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April 2016

Breaking blockage across generations: a case of Sinapis alba

by Anna Koller-Wilmking

This is the case of a seven-year-old girl diagnosed with neurodermatitis, bronchial asthma, and multiple allergies. Her skin was very sensitive even as a baby; she developed itching on her eyelids and on her elbows very quickly. In addition to this, she had allergies with sinus congestion and bronchial asthma, especially after contact with animal fur. Another symptom was that she did not get her first teeth until the age of one, as well as fusion of the labia as a baby, which was surgically treated.

She is a lovely girl. Although she is a little reserved, she still has good self-esteem. She expresses anger when she doesn’t get to do what she wants and contradicts her mother often. She loves animals, is compassionate, and fearless. She loves sports, is vain, and loves to dress as a princess. Even with a long interview no other symptoms, modalities, dreams or significant events during pregnancy emerged.

She loves to draw flowers and all kinds of plants, which might be a soft indication for a remedy from the Plant kingdom. In the past, Sulphur and Natrummuriaticum were given by another homeopath without any change. After the interview, I had no idea what to give.

The mother reported that she has similar bronchial symptoms, which are not as pronounced as in her daughter, so I decided to take the case of the mother a few days later to see if I could find the remedy for her child in this way.

Mother (M): “For years now, I am having problems with coughing and tickling in my throat. Sometimes, the lungs are free, sometimes congested, but I can’t swallow the phlegm; it is like a piece of bacon that is stuck. I try to cough it out but mostly that doesn’t work. Aside from that, I have diarrhea often, a chronic sinusitis and congestion of the nose, eczema on the right eye lid and on the elbows. When I am lying down, there is always something stuck; I have to clear my throat, it is as tough as chewing gum. You can’t swallow it and it hinders breathing. The cough is often very restricting. When I have to cough, everything gets restricted.”

Anna Koller-Wilmking (AKW): Restricted?M: “Yes, it pulls when I breathe. It isn’t open and wide but rather very dense, as if I’m breathing through a sponge, not through open pipes; it’s as if there’s a filter in between. Everything gets stuck and I have to work to get air in. When I exhale, I again have to get through a barrier or restriction.”

AKW: How is it when you cannot swallow?M: “Whatever I do, something is always stuck. Eventually, I fall asleep.”

AKW: How is it with the sinuses?M: “Everything is full, dense. I cannot inhale or exhale. It is packed; nothing goes in or out. I’ve had it. I try to ignore it, sometimes with more success than other times, but it is annoying.”

AKW: Dreams?M: “I often dream that my horse and I get stuck somewhere in the mud or the snow. Or I have to get up a steep staircase or hill, and that I can’t get up, I’m stuck. Or that I was buried in the sand. My arms are free, but I can’t get out of the hole. I can’t go further; I’m stuck. Whatever I try, I don’t get anywhere.“In real life, I block myself often, stop myself from continuing. I don’t complete things, make many excuses as to why I can’t do it. I procrastinate when I should finish my degree. At the moment, I am doing relatively well; I am without a barrier!”

Analysis

The sensation: “congested, to block the way, barrier, stuck, restriction, open pipes, handicapped” clearly indicates the Brassicaceae (old Cruciferae). The miasm is ringworm (alternation between trying and accepting), for which the remedy Sinapis alba (for the mother) is indicated. Since the symptoms of the daughter were very similar, and I did not have another idea, I gave the same remedy to the daughter. I felt supported in this reasoning by the daughter’s physical symptoms of sinus congestion, late teething, as well as the fusion of the labia (a barrier on the physical plane).

Without the knowledge of the remedy of the mother, I would not have found the remedy of the child, especially since this Plant family is not all that well represented in the repertory. In children, especially in the preverbal state, it is often impossible to find this Plant family, since it is mostly found through the patient’s articulation of vital sensation. Thus, the symptoms and state of the mother during pregnancy can provide crucial data.

Prescription: Sinapisalba

Follow-up of the mother: the cough disappeared after a few days as well as the diarrhea. Sinus symptoms exacerbated briefly but since then, she has been well. She continued with her studies and finished her degree and started to work. Whenever she gets a cough – which is rare – she gets another dose of her remedy. She has been in treatment for four years, and has been completely symptom-free for the last nine months.

Follow-up of the daughter: the mother reported that her daughter got stuck during the birth. What a wonderful confirmation! The bronchial symptoms improved quickly and, as expected, the skin got worse at first. She received further doses for episodes of bronchitis and allergies.

She is now symptom free for a year.

In children who need a remedy from this Plant family, I often observe skin irritation, especially on the eyelids, allergies with nasal congestion, bronchitis, late and difficult teething, constipation, phimosis or fusion of the labia (signs of blockage), as well as a long and difficult birth with “getting stuck”.

In the case of children, especially in the preverbal age, where the search for a remedy is often difficult, it has sometimes proven successful in my practice to search for the remedy of one of the parents, if similarities present themselves. Often, it is the remedy of the mother, which at least over a certain time period proves helpful, especially since the child during the pregnancy was exposed to the energy of the mother. Whether or not the child was genetically predisposed to be in the mother’s state is an open and unresolved question.